THE LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST:Preparation of the Gifts; Eucharistic Prayer; and the Communion Rite

THE PREPARATION OF THE GIFTS

“Offere” to present; to bring; to offer Described by St. Justin Martyr in 155 Sacrificial overtones; symbolize gift of

oneself and one’s labor (Ex 29: 2; Lev 2:4-7)

Bread, wine, and assortment of gifts used Bread was the staple of life; bread=eating

(Gen 31:54; Lv 26: 26; Ez 4: 16) Wine common part of Israelite meals

THE OFFERTORY

Money eventually overshadowed gifts of flax, honey, wool, etc

Q: Why??? God doesn’t need these gifts…

A: We need to grow in love Self-giving, sacrificial acts are of immense

value when united to Christ

MIXING OF WATER & WINE, WASHING OF HANDS, PRAYER OF OFFERINGS

“Blessed are you, Lord of all creation…” rooted in Jewish prayers

Wine symbolizes JC’s divinity; water, his humanity Symbolic of

Hypostatic union

Priest: “With humble spirit and contrite heart may we be accepted by you, O Lord…”

Humble spirit & contrite heart recall Shadrach, Meschach, & Abednego who offered up themselves Dn 3: 39-40

WASHING OF HANDS

Signals a dramatic event about to occur (Ps 24: 3-4)

Levites purified themselves before approaching the Holy of Holies (Ex 40:34; 1 Kgs 8:10-11) Matter of life & death: Uzzah

Echoes David’s prayer for purity (Ps 51:2)

WASHING OF HANDS

Priest: Pray brethren, that my sacrifice and yours, may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father.

My=JC (priest acting in persona christi) Yours=the Church offering itself to God

THE EUCHARISTIC PRAYER

Priest: The Lord be with you… About to embark on most sacred part of

Mass Entering into the mystery of Christ’s

sacrifice Ancient part of mass—Hippolytus 215 Reflects Jewish prayers at mealtime,

especially the Passover celebration

LIFT UP YOUR HEARTS

Biblical image: heart is the hidden center of the person, the origin of thoughts, desires, and actions

Meant to be a wake up call: to summon our full attention to what’s about to happen

ST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM (313-386)

Lift up your hearts: For in this sublime moment the heart should be lifted up to God, and not be allowed to descend to the earth and to earthly concerns. With all possible emphasis the sacrificing priest exhorts us in this hour to lay aside all the cares of this life, all domestic worries, and direct our hearts to God in heaven who hath so loved men… Let there be none among you, who shall confess with his lips: We have lifted up our hearts, and allow his thoughts to remain with the cares of this life.

ST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM CONT.

Cyril goes on to say this is difficult because we are fallen.

Yet, if there is ever a moment to concentrate most intently and give God our fullest attention, it is now at the Eucharistic prayer

THE GREAT THANKSGIVING

Priest: Let us give thanks to the Lord.

All: It is right and just It is… most fitting to

creation to give thanks, because that is the best it can offer him in return. For when creation tries to make any other return to God it finds that its gift already belongs to the Creator of the universe, no to the creature offering it. --Philo

A lot to be thankful for right now: Father sending the Son Redemption bought by

the cross The miracle about to

take place in mass We are about to be

filled with the Real Presence

We become a living tabernacle

SANCTUS “HOLY HOLY HOLY LORD” (IS 6:3) In Heaven, the

Sanctus is ecstatic & awesome

Sung by the seraphim who burn with love who cover their faces

3x highest value in Hebrew (no punctuation)

Temple foundations shake & room fills with smoke

Seraphim “the burning ones”

SANCTUS

John sees a similar vision in Revelation 1:17 Six-winged seraphim sing a similar hymn of praise

John, like Isaiah, afraid in the heavenly court

Our voices join the angels & saints at this point

We are mystically entering the Heavenly throne room

THE EPICLESIS

Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall, so that they may become for us the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ

“To invoke; to call down”

Priest prays that the Father send the Holy Spirit to transform the humble bread & wine

Like ancient Jews who prayed for the Messiah, we pray for him to be made present again

THE WORDS OF INSTITUTION AND CONSECRATION

Take this, all of you, and eat of it: for this is my body which will be given up for you. Take this, all of you, and drink from it: for this is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me.

These words might be too familiar, but what if we had never heard them before?

ANAMNESIS

Passover not merely recalled, but re-lived. Past mystically made present to those

celebrating the feast All Israelites participated in first

Passover; all were saved from slavery; all united into one covenantal family with God.

LAST SUPPER & MASS AS A SACRIFICE? Sacrificial language in reference to Himself

Body & blood recalls Passover lamb (Ex 12:27) “given up” (didomai in Greek) associated with

sacrifice in NT (Lk 2:24; Mk 10:45; Jn 6:51; Gal 1:4) Blood ‘poured out’ alludes to atoning sacrifices in

Temple New & eternal covenant echoes Mosaic covenant

All that’s left is to carry out the sacrifice on Good Friday

MASS AS A SACRIFICE

Command “Do this” + anamnesis = sacrifice Good Friday made present at every mass for

a salvific purpose: so that its power may be applied to our lives for the daily sins we commit & so that we can unite ourselves more deeply to Christ in His act of total, self-giving love

Indeed, we have in every mass a unique opportunity to enter sacramentally into the Son’s loving gift of himself to the Father

NOTES ON THE NEW TRANSLATION

Cupchalice More faithful to

original translation Underscores

liturgical nature of the vessel Cups are for drinking Chalices are for

worship

Poured out for allmany

Christ died for all Recalls ‘the many’

that are mentioned three times in Isaiah 53: 11-12

Identifying himself as the Suffering Servant

The ‘many’ also contrasts with the ‘one’ who died

THE MYSTERY OF FAITH, OFFERING, & INTERCESSIONS

“We proclaim your death…”

Not so much instruction as a pause to wonder at the mystery taking place right now

Called once more to unite ourselves to Christ’s sacrifice & given three models of sacrifice 1) Abel—gives his

best 2) Melchizedek—

mysterious OT priest gives bread & wine

3) Abraham—offers that which is most precious to him: Isaac

THE GREAT AMEN

Eucharistic prayer culminates with the Great Amen

“Amen” Hebrew expression of consent “Let it be so”

The angels & saints cascade amens in Heaven We join the heroes of salvation history with our

Heaven This Amen “resounds in heaven, as a celestial

thunderclap.” –St. Jerome

THE COMMUNION RITE!

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Priest: At the Savior’s command and formed by divine teaching we dare to say…

Our Father, Who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy Name.Thy Kingdom come,

Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespassesAs we forgive them that trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. Amen.

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Our: Reminds us of our unity through Father

Father: “Abba” address God in personal & intimate terms, not distant/formal terms

Hallowed by the Name: May God and his name be recognized & treated as holy

Thy Kingdom come: prophets foretold restoration of Israel & we echo it, beginning in our own heart

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Thy will be done—in heaven, God’s will is obeyed perfectly

Our daily bread--symbol for supporting life in general; recalls manna; ‘supersubstantial’ is Eucharist

Forgive us—make us holy tabernacles; but God’s mercy can’t penetrate an unmerciful heart (Mt 6:14-15; 18: 23-35)

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Lead us not—a request that God doesn’t allow us to give in to temptation, rather than never be tempted

Deliver us—Scripture can be translated as “the Evil One.” Not random, bad things that happen, but Satan and his fallen angels

A PRAYER FOR PEACE

Priest prays for peace (shalom)—not mere absence of hostility, but an inner wholeness that is stable, profound, and personal

Anxiety occurs when our hope is in worldly goods, which can be lost.

Preoccupations and worries in this life indicate something is wrong spiritually & God has been shut out of our hearts

THE “PROTESTANT” ENDING OF THE LORD’S PRAYER

Not part of the actual prayer Jesus taught

Strong biblical roots—derived from King David

Brought Israel to its zenith, but David recognized at end of his life all the good came from God (1 Chr 29: 10-11)

At mass, we echo David thanking God for the blessings we have, and affirm God as their source.

THE SIGN OF PEACE

Again we pray for ‘shalom’; worldly success is fragile & breeds insecurity

Connects the Lord’s Prayer with the reception of holy communion

Sign varies upon local custom, but very ancient (Justin Martyr in 155)

We ritually express the peace we long for and will one day enjoy

THE FRACTION, COMMINGLING, & AGNUS DEI

The ‘breaking of bread’ started a Jewish meal

The separate consecration of body & blood symbolize the death of Christ

A small piece of the host is placed in the chalice, reuniting body & blood, symbolic of the Resurrection

Agnus Dei takes us right up to God’s throne (Rv 5: 11-12)

MASS AS A MARRIAGE?

“Blessed are those who are called to the supper of the Lamb”

Heaven is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rv 19:9)

‘Supper’ & ‘Lamb’ recall Passover

Lamb is also a bridegroom

We stand in role of bride

WE APPROACH OUR LORD IN COMMUNION We become like: Roman Centurion—

Lord I am not worthy… (humility & faith)

Mary, who carried Jesus in her womb, and then reunited with him sacramentally May our hearts beat as

one with Jesus, like Mary’s does!

Sacred moments to reflect & rest with Our Lord

Priest purifies the sacred vessels

“Prayer of Communion” for the spiritual fruits of the Eucharist to take effect

ITE MISSA EST

Dismissal is not a conclusion, but a sending forth.

Empowered by grace, reunited with Our Lord, we return to a world scarred by sin and desperately in need of the love of Christ

Good news: you’re now a living tabernacle capable of doing that! And remember: the Lord is with you!